~Tourists

So, we have a British couch surfer at our house at the moment. And obviously, like good hosts, we're showing her around the city. We drove to Hahndorf for a picnic on Monday, and after finding out that the BierHaus in Lobethal is only open on the weekend, we went to a pub across the road, played some pool, and afterwards raced the sun to Mt. Lofty to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous. We could see Glenelg, the City, the Port, and all the suburbs. Katie was impressed by how straight Adelaide is laid out- not just the centre, but the suburbs too.

We are also going to the Bay tonight, and today is an action-packed day in the CBD. 

The point of this is to emphasise that Adelaide has plenty to do, but a lot of it requires a car, and not much is in the CBD. On the City Council Events website, there is nothing listed for the month of September. 

As a councillor, I would try to address this by encouraging new festivals in the spring months, and passing developments which will provide things for tourists to do.

~Fire regulations in Rundle Mall

Yesterday I was walking down Rundle Mall and I noticed this (British?) busker doing tricks with unlit fire sticks. He was very skilled, though not as funny as he tried to be, and in the course of events, it turned out that he was not allowed to light the fire sticks. Without checking, I feel pretty certain that it was an ACC regulation preventing him from doing so, and that is one thing I would change if I were elected. 

It's not even summer (though I don't support a fireban in summer, either: the risk is no way big enough to justify the neutering of a very clever trick.)

~Victoria Square

So, it's been a long time, but I blame it largely on not having the internet at home as I adjust to my new lodgings in Ascot Park. 

I've still been reading news papers, however, and I am now back to blogging about City issues. The Victoria Square proposal has captured a bit of attention, but less than Treasurer Foley's antics surrounding the Commonwealth Games (about which I will blog at a later date).

The proposal has two central tenets: excavating the entire area to a depth of about 7m (two storeys) and build a tower in the centre. There are several problems with this. The first is the obvious removal of dirt. Where is it going? How much would that cost? Why? The second, is the dust/sound bowl effect. The Square, with little ventilation and at a depression to the rest of the city, would concentrate sound and dust. Far from convenient and quiet for pedestrians, it would be awful. 

Thirdly, I have grown quite attacted to the Square's namesake, and to remove her would make me sad. And finally, to replace her with Australia's most same tower seems to defeat the purpose of attracting tourists. 

While some of the other ideas are attractive: proper toilets, a sound shell, open-air amphitheatre and so on, I don't want it excivated, and I don't want a tower. If elected, I would vote in accordance with these guiding principles. While I do want a taller skyline, I don't want a tower for its own sake.